A popular tactic in recent years when it comes to marketing is for brands to work with influencers who already have a large following themselves from other things. It seems like something that makes perfect sense – teaming up with someone who is already established in their respective fields with followers that usually pay close attention to the things they say and do. These pairings do work perfectly well most of the time, but there are things that the brands need to take into consideration before jumping right in. Here are just a few reasons why.

Lack of Brand Loyalty

Many of these influencers are working with multiple brands at a time, essentially whoever is willing to write a cheque. It’s important to pay attention to what other brands an influencer promotes to see if you want to share that kind of space or if you don’t mind that, if your brand fits along with the other ones. One users might have a million followers, but if they’re there mainly to follow makeup tutorials, hauls and brand suggestions, asking them to promote an extreme sports brand will make little to no sense.

Content Might No Longer Be King

The old adage that marketing professional have held tightly to for years might be waning just a little bit. This is because trends and movements come and go so quickly now, so it can be difficult to create meaningful written or visual content around them. With these influencers, brands tend to send them pre-drafted content to share and while that’s important in crafting the right narrative it can also seem empty and contrived.

Quantity vs. Quality

While it’s pretty common knowledge that you can purchase followers, views or listens, you can purchase trends too! With some of the mid-range to lower end influencers, brands can pay a few of them to tweet the same messaging anywhere from 30 to 100 times a day using a particular hashtag. The goal is to get the topic itself trending rather than creating useful content within said tweets or posts. You might have the list of regional or national trends, but there will be little to no follow through when it’s something that is not organic.

You Need CTA for ROI

A trending topic sparked by one or a few influencers is great, but what if nobody knows what it’s for? Or cares? The point is to create quality content that’s as useful and informative as it is entertaining or have the ability to go viral. You might reached many people based on who is following these influencers, but there needs to be tangible follow through to make it all worth it. In short, you need a solid call-to-action in order to get a return on your investment. The purpose of every marketing plan and strategy is always different. Some might be for general brand awareness, while others might be to promote a specific product or new service. It’s important that you know what you’re hoping to get out of it so you can properly measure all the results when it’s all said and done. It’s imperative that the brands ensure the influencers involved are well aware of the final purpose as well so everyone’s common goals are reached.